Protecting sparking metal



HENRY FORCELLON, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR TO ALPHA PRODUCTS COMPANY, INC, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PROTECTING SPARRING METAL.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY FoRoELLoN, av

citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in the county of New of the air.

a temperature of about 350* 1 00 0. The

York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Protecting Sparking Metal, of which'the following is a specification.

My invention relates .toimprovements in protecting sparking alloys, particularly from the action of moisture and the oxygen Sparking metal is commonly comprised of an alloy of misch-metall (containing mainly cerium) and iron. my invention may be used in connection with the various kinds of sparking alloys, I preferan alloy comprising from 70% to of cerium ormisch-metall and from 30% to 25% of iron. The alloy maycontain traces of other metals which commonly occur in alloys of this class. I prefer to cast the alloy in the form of slender sticks and to break these up into pieces of suitable size for commercial use, but the alloy may be formed into pieces of suitable size and shape-in any suitable manner.

To protect such commercial pieces 1 of sparkling alloy, according to the preferred form of my invention, I take 10 pounds of such pieces, each about 3 m. m. in diameter by about 5 m. in. long (comprising about 22,000 pieces) and put them into an iron vessel with 2' oz. of an hydrocarbon oil known as Lafayette packing oil. This oil is a straw colored mineral oil having a flashpoint of about 380 C., a fire test of about 430 C. and a viscosity of about190 measured by the Saybolt viscosimeter at 37 C. The oil originates from the Pennsylvania oil fields. Many other oils may be used particularly the mineral or hydrocarbon oils.

The pieces of sparking metal are heated with the oil in the iron vessel, gradually to about"350 C. for about 15 minutes and then the whole is allowed to U pieces" are then taken out and any oil remalning thereon is allowed to evaporate as much as it may. The weight .of' the metal at the end of the process is about the same as at the beginning.

.During the time the oil is kept at 350 C. most of the oil is evaporated ordriven Specification of Letters Patent.

While I decomposition of oil C. and kept at cool to about Patented Nov. 8, "1921.

' Application filed March 27, 1919. Serial No. 285,664.

ofi. I believe the oil is cracked by catalytic action of the metal and face of the pieces a tarry material comprising colloidal carbon whlch remains on the surface as a dense inert non-metallic coatingprotecting the metal from the action of moisture and oxygen of the air and at the same time giving the pieces a uniform black appearance without substantially afi'ecting or interfering with the sparking properties of the metal when scratched. Since the coating is non-metallic, it, itself, is not liable to oxidation.

While I have described my improvements in great detail and with respect to the preferred form thereof, I do not desire to be limited to such details or form since many changes and modifications may be made and the invention embodied in widely difiering forms without departing from the spirit and scope of ,my invention in its broader aspects.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is o v 1. The new article of manufacture comprising a sparking alloy having a dense nonmetallic protecting coating on its surface, saidcoating not substantially affecting the sparking properties of said surface.

2. The new article of manufacture comprising a sparking alloy having a dense carbonaceous protecting coating on its surface. 3. The. new article of manufacture comprising a sparking alloy containing mainly cerium and having a protecting coating on its surface produced by the evaporation and therefrom, said coating not substantially affecting the sparking properties of said surface. p

4. The new article of manufacture comprising a sparking alloy containin mainly cerium and having a uniformly b ack protecting coating produced by the eva oration and decomposition'of mlneral oil t erefrom. I

5. The process of protecting pieces of sparking alloy which consists in -heating the metallic pieces with oil to produce a protecting coating thereon.

6. The method of protecting pieces of sparking alloy which consists in treating the pieces with a mineral oil and heat to produce a protecting coating thereon.

deposits on the sur- 7 'The method of protecting pieces of sparking alloy containing mainl cerium, which consists in treating the pleces with mineral oil and heat to produce a black protecting coating on the surface of the pieces which does not materially affect the sparking properties thereof.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 1st day of March, A. D. 1919.

HENRY FORCELLON.

Witnesses:

ALEXANDER HAMS, L. D. Umucn, 

